Hundreds of Muslims demonstrated in Cirebon, West Java, over the appointment of a new police chief, because of his "religious background".

Pikiran Rakyat says http://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/cetak/2006/102006/21/0303.htm that on the 20th of October various Muslim clerics and leaders, grouped under the banner of the "Forum Peduli Cirebon", marched from the Attakwa mosque to the Cirebon parliament building and town hall to protest the appointment of Edison Sitorus as the new police chief in the city, replacing Rochiyanto.

The clerics, who came from such organisations as the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), Forum Ukhuwah Islamiyah (FUI), Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah, Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI), Front Pembela Islam (FPI), Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah (DDI), and included such figures as the chairman of the Cirebon MUI, Syarif Muhammad Yahya bin Syech, the chairman of the FUI, Professor Dr. Salim Bajri, and the principal of the Nurrusidik Islamic boarding school, Ade Gumelar, met with the chairman of the local parliament, H. Sunaryo, and advised him that in principle they rejected the appointment of a non-Muslim as police chief because the religious make-up of the city was 92% Muslim, and they believed that the new appointment would disrupt the good harmony among faiths in Cirebon.

DPRD head Sunaryo accepted a letter detailing the clerics' complaints and said he would follow up the matter with the police department.

In response to the complaints against his appointment Edison Sitorus was reported to have said that he would only carry out his job in accordance with police practice and that he would meet with Muslim clerics and build a relationship with them.

So much for diversity and tolerance. I thought the job of a policemen relates to _the_law_ and not religion. This is absurd. Anyone should be able to be a police chief as long as he (or SHE) is able to uphold the law.

They’d better stop riding motorcycles and cars too, because they’re built by infidels – start importing some from the middle east!

Ali – cars and motorbikes won’t do – even if they are built in the middle east. The technology and idea came from infidels. You should be enterprising and start a business of importing camels from the middle east.

It goes on & on : how can one be so primitive ? What perverse complex is afflicting all those guys ? State is public affairs ; religion is private. Both Muslim & Christian religions are supposed to hold moral values : but here I just hear of power trips, vexations, down to earth manipulation. I go back to my refrain : personal interests in politico-religious disguise. Why transform the world into a prison ? The prison of mind : am I right, am I wrong when I BELIEVE exactly the contrary of what this or that guy BELIEVES ? Only beliefs, my friends + identitary bullsh*t. We should stop this childish if not terribly stupid behavior, shouldn’t we ?

Ismail:
I’m not agree with you. Islam is already widely spread in Indonesia, there some strongholds there. The spreading of Islam in Indonesia is the only in the world without conductive association with violence (most of the evangelisation was enforced with violence, repression or/and colonisation, a.e. Southern of America, even in Indonesia). I think we should be proud about it, because it shows the tolerance and the openness of the citizen groups living in Nusantara.
The problem is, I think, the thriving of fanatism. In this case you’re right: it will happen if narrow mindedness prevails. But why are the common people receptive for such things? Where are those puffer and manipulator coming from? Some say they crawl out of the dark deepness of poverty and inequity. I don’t know.

In this and other blogs I read many comments and polemics (sometimes I was and am emotionally troubled being confrontated to the news and many of my comments are no more than bullsh*t polemics too. Read my comment from October 30th.) . Many of them are only scratching on the surface of the problem. Maybe we should try to look a little bit deeper.

Tomaculum, I am sure, that if you understand Islam just a bit more, you probably will understand where I am coming from, but its ok to disagree as long we don’t think the other is less human!!!
Fanatic is defined as a somebody who has extreme and sometimes irrational enthusiasms or beliefs, especially in religion or politics, this is not fanaticism nor is all church burning its just a simple demand of the religion of Islam.

How can the burning of a church be “just a simple demand of the religion of Islam” ?
Aren’t there cooler ways to update situations ?

I’m now reading Henri Corbin about the history of Muslim Philosophy : great ! I feel so much veneration for the 1st imam, Ali ibn Abi Thalib. I hope we could all appreciate “haqiqat” — the truth of reality & the reality of truth.

Ismail,
one understand something according to his/her abilities and these abilities depend on the culture in which she/he grows and on the individualistic kind (subjectivity) to interprete those things. If you got the impression, that I denote your sight as the wrong one, so I would like to apologize. Our sights are simply not completely corresponding to another. I undertsand Islam simply not enough to undertsand why such things can happen. But I don’t want easily believe, that the Islam is bad, for me there are still the commiters who are responsible for their deeds.
And believe me, I have never seen anybody as a less worthy human and will never do it, though many times people behold me as something less worth.

To sum up, yes it’s correct both religions should hold moral value, and yes an officer’s duty is knitted with the law, not religion.
The problem lies not with the religions, but with the majority people of Indonesia, the malay origin. Think before you act, not act with instant feelings.

Moslem always think emotionally and not using their brain or maybe they haven’t?
In Indonesia better you changed your religion if you want to be safe or pretending you are Islam, Islamic people everywhere in this world always had quarrel and fight, if not with their government like in thailand, philipina, they fight with each other like shiah and sunni , its their habits, even god can not do anything with this.

Ismail: have been spreading lies again, haven’t we? didn’t i told you that you have absolutely no credibility at all in quoting the Quran. tell me, where in the Quran that said : “all church burning its just a simple demand of the religion of Islam”.

maybe you’re one of the narrow minded people, Ismail. as narrow minded people always believed that their religion is the best and others are simply evil. haven’t that been your tone all this time? better introspect more, Ismail.

yes, i agree with your words “Fanatic is defined as a somebody who has extreme and sometimes irrational enthusiasms or beliefs, especially in religion or politics”. because i can then correctly assume that you’re one of those fanatics.

Oooh yadda yadda yadda.. same ol’ same ol’.. Looks like Tsunamis, earthquakes and other disaster didn’t open their eyes yet? Well, let’s jsut see what more can be done, and The Almighty sure have a plan/s for these “sh*t for brain” thugs Muslims.
And when it happens, I rest my case.
Peace.

I think it would be pretty safe to say that a Christian Police Chief in Jawa especially Jawa Barat is pretty much a dhimmi and has to conform. He’s not going to be some maverick coming in to clean up the town. He wouldn’t have risen that far up the ranks if he was problem causer or if his Muslim superiors didn’t like his performance and treatment of Muslims. The assclowns protesting just can’t handle the fact that a kafir is in a power position in Jawa. MUI, NU, MMI, FPI, and others protesting just confirms the West’s perception about how intolerant Islam is, especially to non-Muslims.

Hassan you will do well for yourself by just presenting your point of view, I don’t expect you to aggree with me, cause you have Islam on your mind. the fact are there to see if you choose to look, Islam is what Islam does and that is a fact.
yes i do believe that Jesus is the only way, because he said “I am the way the truth and the life”, i can believe that because he lived the part, he was without sin both in birth, in life and in death. yes sir in this I am narrow minded.
but the difference between me and othodox Muslims is that, i will love the unbelieving, i will share my faith and even when they reject i will have keep on showing the love of God, cause they have a right to reject and a matter of fact God himself gave them that right.
they have the right be still be equal with me, to have the same liberty that I have, whether male of female and offcourse the right to worhip what ever even if it’s a spoon.
on the other hand in Islam, to kill an infidel is completely acceptable,to kill an apostate now, that is just a matter of law, a Muslim once told me, he said and i quote “killing the apostate is not because I just want to,but I have to because Allah instructed it” offcourse he his quoting sura 4:89 please ensure you read the verse before and after to avoid cherry-picking.

It is the clerics, provocators. Nothing of that sort happened before especially when they were stressing so hard for Sharia so that Christians no longer could police the Muslim.
No wonder the that many factions are defraying into splinter islamic groups. I bet the Sutanto will quickly change him… All those are more or less psychological derranged.

It is no surprise that Muslims will always object anything as long as it is not muslim in nature. Well, in fact the world has been worse since the birth of religions, but in particular the world has been worst since the birth of Islam. In fact there has been no good thing since the birth of Islam. It is better if such a religion is never born in this world. Perhaps, Allah is the most corrupt God of any Gods humanity has ever known about.